Xbox Removes Call of Duty from Game Pass: A Strategic Move

Xbox recently announced that Call of Duty will no longer be included in Game Pass Ultimate at launch, instead being added about a year later, accompanied by a price reduction for the service. Industry experts Mat Piscatella and Piers Harding-Rolls offered differing opinions on the impact of Call of Duty on Game Pass revenues. To gain further insight, data from Newzoo was analyzed, indicating that while 2024's Black Ops 6 boosted Call of Duty players on Xbox, it did not significantly impact revenues. The data also showed that the poorly-received Black Ops 7 had a minimal effect on both Xbox players and revenue. The Newzoo data includes total Call of Duty revenue, player counts for the most recent three games, and platform split for six markets. The findings suggest that the inclusion of Black Ops 6 in Game Pass drove a temporary increase in active users on Xbox, but this effect did not persist for Black Ops 7. The platform split by revenue and monthly active users reveals that Xbox revenue remained flat or negative, while PlayStation maintained a positive revenue-to-MAU correlation. This implies that Game Pass substituted for full-game purchases on Xbox. The data for Black Ops 7 shows a significant decline in Xbox MAU and revenue, suggesting that the game's removal from Game Pass was a sensible decision. This move may also help achieve a healthier balance sheet for the Call of Duty brand, as Xbox sales revenue can be directly attributed to its bottom line. However, the Newzoo data highlights a sharp drop in Call of Duty players and revenue following the launch of Black Ops 7, which is less than a third of Black Ops 6 revenue and half of Modern Warfare 3 revenue at the same period after launch.